Precipice of Steel
by Archlord
Summary: A serene landscape overlooking the sea of green, covered with innumerable items. A weapon for every situation; a tool for any circumstance; a thousand blades for war.


_Author's Note: I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while. I want to know what you guys think of it before I go any further with the concept. Please review if you like it, and if so, I will go further._

* * *

The Chūnin Exams had been going badly.

That was the thing that made itself most obvious to Naruto Uzumaki. Despite being pegged as absolutely unimaginative, he had brains. Thinking hurt, that's all it was. His experiences resulted in his mind being quite... emotional, and it kept him from using his insight, as it usually led to some terrible conclusion that hurt him mentally.

He didn't need to be told that his Exams were far from atypical.

Attacked by a strange, amazingly powerful person- no, _thing_- in the forest... the strange power surrounding Sasuke Uchiha...

He turned his attention back to the large, electronic board on the wall. It was time for the next match, and although the previous one had been resolved soundly- the girl called Tenten had an unfortunate matchup- something felt... foreboding.

The software finished cycling through names, and selected two participants.

Rock Lee versus Gaara of the Sand.

He was conflicted in that moment. He had never witnessed Gaara fight, but coming back from a B-rank without a scratch? That implied reflexes of the highest level. A solid power.

An absolute defense.

On the other hand, Rock Lee was no pushover. Despite using no chakra at all, he was able to easily bowl over Sasuke in their impromptu fight before the First Exam.

"GO!"

With that, the match was underway.

Immediately, Lee jumped at his opponent, his foot flashing out in a super-fast kick that would lay most opponents flat.

It never even got within a foot of hitting the target.

Immediately, the cork popped out of the gourd on Gaara's back, and a wave of sand absorbed the blow and moved to crush the leg. Rock Lee would give him no such chance, and with pure strength he pulled his foot out. Within an instant, he kicked off the ground and was on the other side of Gaara, another punch already being intercepted by the sand.

Naruto spared a glance at Lee's sensei while the fight raged on. He was a solidly built, but rather unfashionable man that answered to the name Might Guy. His face was worried, but nevertheless, he called out,

"Lee, take them off. It's time to show everyone what you're made of."

Lee jumped to the top of the statue overlooking the arena. After making sure his enemy wasn't following him, he bent down, and pulled down his leg warmers, revealing some weights. They looked rather light.

And yet, Lee was having difficulty raising them up with his arms.

Near him, Temari of the Sand- Gaara's sister- sniffed disdainfully. "What are taking some paltry weights off going to do for him?"

The weights hit the floor, creating two good sized craters.

Even before Temari was finished with her phrase, "I stand corrected," Rock Lee vanished.

And Gaara flew into the air as a kick hit his stomach.

The red headed boy was being battered around for quite a while, yet he didn't seem to be damaged. After a while, he was able to summon more sand from that deceptively small gourd of his, and with the increased amount, he fended off Lee.

Watching the fight below, his very blood boiling from the intensity of it, Naruto began experiencing a very strange feeling. It made him want to yell, to shout, and to scream.

So he did.

"YOU GO, BUSHY 'BROWS! SHOW HIM WHO'S BOSS!"

Flashing Naruto a quick smile, Lee jumped back and took a stance.

The feeling increased...

"_FIRST GATE, OPEN!_"

The world began to get hazy, as the feeling exploded in him. The last thing he saw before he blanked out was an image of Rock Lee practically teleporting, pummeling Gaara around in the air like it was nothing...

* * *

_Swords._

_Swords, hammers, throwing knives, bows, all sorts of things_

_All scattered across the plain stretching to the cliff, which overlooked a wide forest. Even without going over there, Naruto could tell that it was filled with weapons, too._

_He bent down to pick up a blade by his feet. The instant his hand touched it, information flooded into his head- the sword was named Supairaru; it was used by a man named Bakuhatsu-ryoku during the First Great Ninja War; and it was particularly attuned to performing spinning attacks, being used against multiple enemies._

_All that information in a second._

_He dropped the sword as the world began to waver. He felt a calm detachment, for some reason. It didn't worry him that this world was vanishing, because it was al..._

* * *

Naruto's eyes snapped open.

Above him, Sakura Haruno's face instantly lit up for a moment, before quickly turning back to anger. A palm hit the side of his face.

"Idiot! You almost missed your match! You need to get down there and show Kiba what you're made of!"

Naruto smiled and lunged to his feet. Giving Sakura a quick reassurance that he would succeed, he ran down the staircase into the arena.

What was that... dream? What was that ever-so-peaceful precipice covered with weapons? He forcefully shook his head. Now wasn't the time.

Before long, he was standing in front of Kiba Inuzuka. He was the class clown, alongside Naruto himself, but he was quite competent in taijutsu when they parted ways.

He could only assume Kiba had gotten better.

"GO!"

Kiba smiled mockingly at Naruto, and spoke in a haughty tone,

"Hah! This will be no trouble. I won't even need Akamaru for this. I'll defeat you, and I'll go on to become Hokage! I'm a way better candidate than a dead-last like you!"

That last part did it.

"Oh yeah? Well why don't you shut that flea-ridden mouth of yours, and FIGHT!?"

Kiba blocked the punch thrown at his face and threw a counter, which sent Naruto backwards a few feet, although he quickly regained ground.

The fight was fierce, but he was losing it. Naruto just couldn't stand up to Kiba in taijutsu, and so it was time to bring out some ninjutsu.

Quickly backing up, Naruto made the cross hand seal and released his chakra in a burst.

"SHADOW CLONE TECHNIQUE!"

At least a dozen now faced Kiba, but they didn't seem to be faring well. They were dispersed quickly, and Kiba pulled out a bomb of some sort. He threw it and quickly commanded his dog to, "Sic 'em!", as it were.

Naruto quickly thought up a plan, and smirked when the smoke burst out of the grenade, enveloping him in smoke. Quickly setting his stance for intercept, he waited.

Akamaru flew through the mist, aiming to knock his head off. Naruto quickly caught him and a punch to the head knocked him out. He created a shadow clone and transformed its appearance to look battered up as well as hiding Akamaru, before transforming himself into a perfect image of the dog.

The smoke dissipated, and he sat by the clone, trying to look 'doggy happy'.

"Way to go, Akamaru!" Kiba cheered.

It worked.

Naruto quickly ran up to the outstretched arms of Kiba, opened his mouth, lunged,

And bit.

"A-Akamaru, what's up?"

With perfect timing, all transformations were dispelled.

Naruto jumped back and pulled out a kunai, aiming it at the dog's stomach.

"You wanna surrender?"

Kiba looked hurt, enraged, and afraid, all at once. Instantly, he palmed some sort of pill from his pouch, flicking it into Akamaru's open mouth.

Just as instantly, Akamaru changed.

His fur became dark red and slippery. His fangs grew. He came awake. He escaped.

Kiba snarled triumphantly, "Got you there, Naruto! I was going to go easy on you, but you've pushed me to this!"

He formed some hand seals after popping one of the pills into his mouth.

"Take this! Man-Beast Clone Technique!"

Akamaru transformed into a duplicate of Kiba, and both of them crouched on the ground. Both looked feral, both looked deadly.

And both were coming at him.

"Fang Passing Fang!"

Turning into dual cyclones, the two figures raced at Naruto, who quickly back flipped out of the way. They quickly rebounded from their miss, and came at him from a new direction. He dodged that too, but he was left off balance.

He was hit by the next attack.

The pain was almost unbearable, but he managed to survive. He got to his feet slowly, blocking out Kiba's gloating. Struggling to ready himself, he finally spoke,

"That all you got..?"

In a rage, Kiba launched his deadly attack again. Naruto knew he couldn't survive another hit like that.

And yet...

_'What is it you require?'_

He started. The voice wasn't his own, but the world seemed to be moving in slow motion. He could vaguely hear his friends' cries, but nothing else. Nothing but that voice. And the strange feeling from earlier.

He decided to answer.

"A defense to prevent me from getting bowled over by this next attack. Protection is what I need."

_'You shall have it.'_

Kiba was closing in, and his defeat was imminent. Naruto braced himself...

...and a steel shield popped out of thin air into his hand.

The force was unimaginable, and he skidded back several feet, the shield lay broken on the ground.

But he was undamaged, and Kiba was stun.

He willed for that feeling again, when the voice talked to him. He needed something else.

_'What is it that you require?'_

Immediately, Naruto answered.

"I want something to restrain him without seriously injuring him. Yet, it must injure him to get him to forfeit."

_'You shall have it.'_

Without another moment, a chain dropped into his hand. Not just any chain, but the exact chain the Demon Brothers had used when Naruto's team was ambushed by them.

Heeding some unspoken command, the chain flew through the air and wrapped around Kiba.

"What the- ow!" The chains cut slightly into his skin, "What is this, Naruto?"

Naruto answered, "It's a bladed chain. With the slightest tightening, it will shred through flesh and bone, cutting you to pieces. You can forfeit, or you can get seriously injured."

He watched Kiba grow deathly pale at the threat. Kiba looked around frantically, finally seeing Akamaru. The dog was too far away to do anything.

Kiba closed his eyes.

"I forfeit."

And without another word, the chain disappeared into thin air. The shield was gone, too.

Naruto had won the Preliminary Round of the Third Exam.


End file.
